Europe's Same Old Austerity

France and Spain try to tax their way to growth.

Updated Oct. 2, 2012 12:01 a.m. ET

Remember all that euro-babble before the French election about fiscal "austerity" harming growth? Well, meet the new austerity, same as the old austerity, which means higher taxes on the private economy and token discipline for the state. Growth is an afterthought.

That's the lesson of French President François Hollande's new "fighting" budget, which is supposed to reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP from 4.5% and represent the country's toughest belt-tightening in three decades. That's not a high bar, but...